DHEA & Fertility

What Is DHEA?

DHEA (or dehydroepiandrosterone) is a naturally existing hormone that the female body converts into
androgensandrogens,
mainly
testosteronetestosterone.
Even though androgens are male hormones, they're present in both sexes and are essential in the female body for the production and development of healthy eggs. In an infertility setting, particularly in conjunction with IVF, DHEA is used primarily to treat women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), which occurs either as a consequence of premature ovarian aging (POA) or female aging.

In 2004, CHR became the first IVF center to introduce DHEA into fertility treatment. Since then, DHEA supplementation has demonstrated remarkable results worldwide. In fact, in a 2010 survey, a third of all IVF centers in the world reported prescribing DHEA to improve pregnancy chances in women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR).

DHEA & Fertility

Many women with severely diminished ovarian reserve come to CHR after they were advised by other fertility centers that their only chance of conception would be with egg donation. After treatment at CHR through IVF and DHEA, a significant number of these women--about a third of them, in fact--have conceived with their own eggs.

How Does DHEA Improve Fertility?

Published research by CHR has shown that women with diminished ovarian reserve (due to advanced age or premature ovarian aging, POA) tend to have abnormally low androgen levels, and that a good androgen level is essential to development of eggs in the ovaries.

"Four top infertility clinics told me I'd never have a baby without using a donor egg. However … five months after starting DHEA [we discovered] I was pregnant!"

DHEA supplementation helps these patients by increasing the androgen levels within their ovarian environments to a normal range. As their immature eggs develop to the ovulation-ready stage in the androgen-enhanced ovarian environment, these eggs mature into better-quality eggs. High-quality, healthy eggs develop into high-quality embryos, which have better chances of implantation and lower risks of miscarriage.

Through our research, we have found that DHEA supplementation in women with DOR raises androgen (testosterone) levels and increases pregnancy chances via androgen receptors on the developing follicles. Increase in pregnancy chances appear to be particularly pronounced in women whose androgen levels rise successfully after DHEA supplementation. Because of this observation, CHR physicians closely monitor the androgen levels and a few other indicators while patients are on DHEA and time the start of IVF cycles accordingly.

Norbert Gleicher, MD, leads CHR’s clinical and research efforts as Medical Director and Chief Scientist. A world-renowned reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Gleicher has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and lectured globally while keeping an active clinical career focused on ovarian aging, immunological issues and other difficult cases of infertility.